“It’s not as bad as you’ve made it out to be. She’s only a secretary!” Song Jingyu never thought much of Mai Qi. To her, Mai Qi was only a laborer and would listen to whoever offered her more money.
But clearly Song Jingyu didn’t think things through. She overestimated herself and underestimated Mai Qi.
After Mai Qi left Song Jingyu’s lounge room, she went straight for the hall. She didn’t seek Zhou Zheng or Fu Chengyan directly, but instead had someone bring her some ice for her face. She waited until the pain subsided before she went to look for Zhou Zheng.
Mai Qi had already tried her best to cover it up, but Zhou Zheng could still see the light hand print on her face. “You’ll need to fix your makeup later.”
“Okay.” Mai Qi rubbed her face. “Which part of the annual meeting are we at?” Mai Qi looked at the stage and saw some Shengyuan staff members performing. She flipped through her program booklet and asked, “The next program is… Shi Wei’s?” She looked at it again. “Mr. Zhou, Shi Wei isn’t actually that talented. The other artists from Xinhuang have more talents to offer, yet this Shi Wei is choosing to sing? And she’s singing…”
Mai Qi was quite surprised. Singing could both be difficult and simple.
Hai Na’s performance was a dance, while Bai Qing chose to do something more elegant — playing a traditional Chinese instrument. Bai Qing was Xinhuang’s top star, so Mai Qi had arranged for her to be in the second last slot. She had already changed into traditional clothing and was sitting quietly by the side, looking like a beautiful painting.
This made Shi Wei’s choice of singing look as if she hadn’t put much thought into it. And Mai Qi had looked into Shi Wei and learned of some things from her past, so she couldn’t understand why she had attended.
“Just observe. How’s the preparation for the lucky draw later?”
“All done. Don’t you trust me, Mr. Zhou?” Mai Qi closed her program booklet and handed it to the assistant behind her. “I’ll go fix my makeup first.”
Shengyuan’s staff were performing on the stage while Shi Wei was looking on feeling unimpressed. She was displeased with her performance slot. But Guan Jing and Su Su were trying to have her see things from a different perspective. “This isn’t a bad time slot as there won’t be many other performances after you. You’re still new in Xinhuang so it’s best if you don’t have any conflicts with Bai Qing.”
Guan Jing gave Su Su a pointed look. Su Su hurriedly nodded and said, “Wei, you should know, you have much more of an advantage with your singing than Bai Qing. Not many people will understand or appreciate her and her traditional instrument. You’re different. You even chose a well-known pop song. And the endorsement deal for St. Dee is between the two of you as well. Bai Qing’s traditional image today will be completely incompatible with St. Dee’s usually trendy image.”
“What you’re saying is true, but you know how my singing is. It’s only average at best!” Shi Wei frowned. She liked acting. As for singing, it wasn’t her strong suit at all.
She had enrolled for all sorts of classes when she was younger, including learning the piano, the accordion, even the violin. But she had no talent at all and was just completely disinterested. So when she entered the entertainment industry and her manager wanted her to release an album, she quickly declined. All she wanted to do was act.
But it wasn’t like she could perform a play at the annual meeting! And setting up a play required a lot of time and rehearsal. Time was what she didn’t have.
“Next, let’s welcome Xinhuang’s Ms. Shi to the stage for her performance.”
The host had already called her name but Shi Wei was still in the middle of prepping. She froze when she heard her name. But her acting training kicked in and she quickly regained her composure.
She stood up and calmly walked to the stage. She took a bow, then said, “First of all, I’d like to extend my wishes for Shengyuan to continue to expand and be even greater each year. I’ve only just joined Xinhuang this year and joined this great Shengyuan family. This is all thanks to…” Shi Wei looked shyly towards Fu Chengyan who was sitting in the audience seat, “This is all thanks to Mr. Fu who has put his trust in me. In the future, I promise to always do my best to become Xinhuang’s and Shengyuan’s pride and joy. I’ll be singing Fish Leong’s ‘Courage’ and I hope that everyone has the courage to strive forward and to rise to all challenges ahead.”
Shi Wei prefaced her song with a long speech, before moving to the center of the stage and beginning her song.
Shi Wei’s little speech had admittedly encouraged those in the audience and they could easily disregard her singing skills. Bottom line was her performance wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t bad either.
But this didn’t include Song Jingyu who had just entered the hall. She had just taken a seat and was surprised to see Shi Wei on the stage. She was especially horrified when she saw Shi Wei giving Fu Chengyan seductive glances while giving her speech.
She stared intently at Shi Wei. When Shi Wei reached the chorus of her song, Song Jingyu suddenly stood up, walked to the side of the stage ,and grabbed the microphone off the MC. “This really is a good song. But oddly, Ms. Shi does better talking than singing.”
Shi Wei froze when her singing was interrupted, never expecting Song Jingyu to suddenly appear. Shi Wei’s face paled after hearing what Song Jingyu had to say.
She gripped her microphone tightly with one hand while having an unpleasant but restrained look on her face. She trembled slightly. “What are you doing, Ms. Song? I understand that I’m not that skilled in singing, but this is also a form of my sincerity. I’m an actor so singing isn’t a strength of mine.”
Shi Wei spoke while allowing her emotions to shape her expressions. Her eyes slowly turned red, making her look pitiful and had the audience feeling for her.
Shi Wei was truly an actor. Just a tiny action and she had the support of the Shengyuan staff members who were looking. “That’s right. She’s an actor. It’s good enough that she’s willing to get on the stage to sing.”
“Exactly. And she was in the middle of performing. Even if it wasn’t that spectacular, it’s still incredibly rude for someone to interrupt her!”
“Shhh. Not too loud. That ‘someone’ is basically ‘royalty’. I think there’s trouble ahead for Shi Wei.”
Things were getting a little chaotic. Song Jingyu’s entourage noticed that things weren’t looking right and wanted to go up to her but were stopped by others. Song Zhenyan too wanted to quickly remove Song Jingyu, but she caught sight of Fu Chengyan.
Fu Chengyan clearly had his people block Song Jingyu’s entourage, the very entourage chosen and appointed by Song Zhenyan. She wasn’t happy about it, but because of Fu Chengyan, she had no choice but to endure it.
Fu Chengyan waved his hand to Shi Yu’s bodyguards, to keep the situation under control.
Song Jingyu stood at the side of the stage and looked at Shi Wei, shouting angrily, “Courage”? Who gave you the courage to stand here? Don’t for a second think you’re special just because you’re Xinhuang’s artist. Who let such a talentless person on the stage?”
“Ms. Song. I’ve always thought you were someone from a prestigious family so it’s quite a shock to me that someone like you would behave in such a manner.” Shi Wei looked at Song Jingyu with a wronged expression then looked at Fu Chengyan again. “Mr. Fu, even though I’m just an artist from Xinhuang, I’m also a human. Did Mr. Fu invite me here today just to humiliate me?”
Fu Chengyan narrowed his eyes and smiled, but there were hints of iciness in his demeanor. He looked at Shi Wei then at Song Jingyu and decided he had enough of their little show. He stood up and said, “Please escort Ms. Song back.”
“Yan, what are you saying? How can you do this to me?”
Song Jingyu was furious that Fu Chengyan was choosing to side Shi Wei over her. “Yan, what’s with this change of heart? You and Shi Wei…”
Fu Chengyan frowned deeply and with a tinge of anger. Annoyance flashed across his face. He looked at Song Zhenyan, “Mother, you were the one who brought her here. Sort it out yourself.”
Song Zhenyan flushed with awkwardness. “Yan, Jingyu hasn’t been feeling well today. She shouldn’t be held responsible for what she did. I’ll take her home first.”
Fu Chengyan nodded then walked on to the stage with those long legs of his. He took the microphone handed to him by Mai Qi and looked to those sitting in the audience, then at Shi Wei. “As it’s Shengyuan’s annual meeting today, I’d like to take the opportunity to make an announcement.”
Everyone was pretty startled by Fu Chengyan’s sudden actions and so all eyes were firmly locked on him. Fu Chengyan continued, “St. Dee, which is a subsidiary of Shengyuan, has been looking for an endorsement model for a while now. We’ve looked into various celebrities both local and international, including those from our own Xinhuang. After much deliberation, I’ve decided…”
Everyone was listening to Fu Chengyan with bated breath; not just those in the audience, but a very nervous Shi Wei as well. Compared to the humiliation she had just endured from Song Jingyu, this was an even bigger deal for her. Bai Qing had yet to perform but Fu Chengyan was making his announcement right then, which meant…
“Ms. Shi will be the new endorsement model for St. Dee.”
Shi Wei breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Fu Chengyan’s announcement and practically beamed with joy.
She looked at Fu Chengyan excitedly. “Mr. Fu, is this true? Am I really the endorsement model for St. Dee?”
Fu Chengyan raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Of course. I never go back on my words. From today onwards, Ms. Shi is the endorsement model for St. Dee in the China region.”
Shi Wei felt as if lady luck had paid her a visit that day. Despite all the upsetting incidents that had happened, that one endorsement deal was enough to wipe away all the negative stuff.
Bai Qing, who was sitting in the audience, felt her face turn pale. She tried standing up but nearly collapsed. It’s a good thing her manager quickly caught her or she really would’ve taken a bad fall. “How?” How could it be Shi Wei?
Song Jingyu, who had been dragged to the entrance by Song Zhenyan, also heard the announcement. Her eyes glazed over in fury and she glowered at Shi Wei. She was so enraged she didn’t even realize her finger nails were cutting into her palm. “Aunt, let me go. That Shi Wei is a b***h. I’m going to destroy her! How dare she go after Yan! I’m not going to let her go!”
